Miami-Dade Fire Paramedic Lt. Alvaro Tonanez helps rescue 5-month-old Sebastian de la Cruz who stopped breathing while riding in the car with his aunt, Pamela Rauseo, 37, right on Thursday, February 20, 2014. At left is Lucila Godoy, who stopped her car to assist with CPR in the rescue. Photo by: Al Diaz, Miami Herald Staff

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The aunt of the baby boy who stopped breathing on the Dolphin Expressway on Thursday afternoon explained a similar scare with her own son seven years ago prompted her to get the CPR training that would ultimately save her nephew’s life.

“I couldn’t fail. I needed to get this baby well,” Pamela Rauseo said at a press conference Friday at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where here nephew Sebastian de la Cruz continues to recover.

“The only thought that’s through me right now is just relief that my nephew is well and healthy,” Rauseo said.

On Friday, Rauseo acknowledged the strangers who stood by her side in her moment of panic.

“I would like to thank them. I was a really hot mess and if it hadn’t been for them, I don’t know that I would have had the presence of mind to do what needed to be done,” she said.

Doctors said Rauseo knew exactly what she was doing, thanks to CPR training she received 7 years ago.

It was back then that Rauseo’s second son stopped breathing at her house.

The child, one of her three sons, was just three months old at the time.

He started breathing again on his own, but the scare was a wake-up call for Rauseo and her husband Eddie.

They were both certified in CPR.

“I hope the message gets out that people need to get trained before that risk happens in their own family,” said Dr. Judy Schaechter, Interim Chief of Pediatrics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

Rauseo doesn’t know if she followed her training to the letter Thursday, but she’s glad what she did remember worked. She plans on getting re-certified soon.

“Let’s all be proactive and avoid something that can be tragic with such a simple solution,” she said.

Lauren Pastrana is the co-anchor of CBS4 News This Morning airing Monday-Friday, from 5 to 7 AM. She joined CBS Miami in April 2012 as a reporter. She is an Emmy nominated, multimedia journalist with experience in television, radio and web-based ...